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Topic: Would you prefer knowing Hasbro's plan for the year all at once? (Read 1447 times)

Thinking about the Q and As and how secretive they are (note to Hasbro: you have an exclusive contract; no other company can beat you to the punch with an idea!), I was wondering who would prefer to get the entire year's list from Hasbro in January or get sporadic surprises throughout the year with each convention. I think I would prefer to see the entire list now to plan for the year and let the new images serve as a surprise. What about you guys?

I would like it in healthy, say a big chunk at toy fair and some stuff to keep me hungry to the rest is displayed at comicon. if i got it all in January/February. I would be good for about a week before I set my sights on what they had planned next year.

I prefer a little new news on a more regular basis than finding out everything at once. If you know everything at once, it takes away attention from some new items that you might have paid more attention to. Also nice to have something to look forward to every few months instead of knowing you won't hear about anything new for a full year.

I agree with Sal - give me the huge list all at once but only in text form. It would help with budget planning and it would also allow for lots of discussion like "hey how do you think they're going to do X figure in Y assortment?"

At Toy Fair - show me everything up to say June/July releases.

At Comic Con unveil the rest of the year.

I think that a text list would also put an end to people finding items in store inventory databases, posting them to the internet and when asked about them, Hasbro has to say "blah blah blah those are just rumors blah blah blah the Target employee responsible for DPCI number assignment is just hoping that we are going to release an AT-TE blah blah blah we can not comment on an AT-TE release at this time..." -- I appreciate the Q&A but when things get silly like that it's just ridiculous.

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Peter

Letting my collecting OCD get the better of me on a DAILY basis... and loving EVERY minute of it!

I agree with Sal - give me the huge list all at once but only in text form. It would help with budget planning and it would also allow for lots of discussion like "hey how do you think they're going to do X figure in Y assortment?"

At Toy Fair - show me everything up to say June/July releases.

At Comic Con unveil the rest of the year.

I think that a text list would also put an end to people finding items in store inventory databases, posting them to the internet and when asked about them, Hasbro has to say "blah blah blah those are just rumors blah blah blah the Target employee responsible for DPCI number assignment is just hoping that we are going to release an AT-TE blah blah blah we can not comment on an AT-TE release at this time..." -- I appreciate the Q&A but when things get silly like that it's just ridiculous.

That's the gist I was trying to make.

It really bugs the sh*t out of me when Hasbro out-right lies about a product not coming out, then BAM 6 months later there it is.

We all know it takes 1 minimum of 12 months to research, develop and manufacture a toy, so why should Hasbro lie? Too many times we've seen them either outright lie in a Q&A or skirt the issue or avoid the question altogether.

As Pete said and I alluded to, having just the text list WILL stop "rumors" from happening, which Hasbro wants to avoid.

Showing the toys at ToyFare for the first part of the year, then SDCC for the remainder makes sense. But again, knowing what is coming will still keep us interested. Not seeing the pics will still create a buzz.

And for those of us who spend a ridiculous amount on SW toys, it really would be helpful to budget this for the year.

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I'm just a humble collector trying to make his way through the universe...of toy aisles."We are strong. We are resilient. We are American." - President Barack Obama, State of the Union Address 2010

Speaking of a text list of new stuff, I remember back when I first got on the internet, Hasbro had a text list of all the waves and releases that they would update monthly, and was usually well in advance of what was out at the time. That was fun.

For the year of 2006 I stayed off the internet entirely...the first time I saw the Saga2 figures was when I saw the wave at the store. I think that was the most fun I've had collecting, it reminded me most of being a kid and scoping the aisles just before ESB and ROTJ came out to get to see the new movie figures. Figures like Chief Chirpa, Endor Luke, Hem Dazon, Derlin, the Treadwell/Gonk 2-pack, and (especially) Foul Moudama will always hold a special place in my heart because the first time I saw them was when I discovered them on the shelf and bought them.

Last year, I looked at the lists of figures in January and was floored...but finding Biggs and the Vaporator were almost anticlimactic in comparison, even though they have been at the top of my most wanted list for so long. Now I'm back in the thick of it, surfing through rumors for the rest of the year and 2009, and I kind of wish I could have the surprise again.

That's a great example of the dichotomy of information- it takes away so much fun, yet we can't easily let it go. It reminds me of trips to see my family in Italy, after a few days when I had no access to current events, and I never felt better about just living day to day. Then I get back and am bombarded by news and info, and quickly get addicted once again. It's tough to discipline oneself to not be among the first to get info, see a new movie, what have you. I think I'm afraid I'd miss out on common knowledge!

I can see both sides of things here. I wouldn't mind seeing a text list of most to all of what's coming for the year, just to know what the budget is for the year. For some people it might not matter, but I really have to try to plan my spending on even the more affordable stuff, since my collecting budget isn't all that much.

I guess overall, I don't mind getting it in little doses throughout the year - as long as we get it. Hasbro has started to get way too stingy with information, and I'm shocked we don't know more about 2008 than we already do at this point. There has been a lot of rumors, retail lists, and speculation - but it seems like we often have more "official" information and pics at this point. I guess I don't need it all at once, but to know what was on its way from now until Spring or so would be ok. And, as others have mentioned, denying things that have been found in store listings only to see them released later is a bit annoying as well.

I kind of miss the vintage days of just finding out what was new when you found it on the pegs (or on the cardbacks, that was fun too). Sadly, in this day and age, that doesn't work anymore. I've found that more often than not if I see something I want, I better pick it up, because it likely won't be there again. That doesn't always happen, but it seems to be more of a problem for people these days. If only it could be so simple as the vintage days (or maybe even the initial POTF2 days for the most part). I remember hitting the toy aisle as a kid, and I think you could have found pretty much any figure you were looking for, for the most part. Then the scalping/value/making money aspect of collecting came into play, making things like that non-existent. Heck, without using the internet to know when/if something is going to hit, I think we'd miss out on quite a few things these days.